La  lor,  James  Pint  an,  1808- 
1849- 

The  rights  of    Ireland 


BOSTON  COllEGE  UBRARY 
CHESTHUT  HILL  MA  02167 


SOCIALIST     PARTY     OF     IRELAND. 


^X^XK3^ 


Cbe  Rigbts  of  Irelaob 


AND 


Cbe  Faitb  of  a.  Feloi), 


BY 


JAMES     FINTAN     LALOR. 


Reppioted    froiD    tbe    "Irisb    Feloo"     Newspaper, 
suppressed  July,    1848. 


WITH      AN      INTRODUCTION 

BY 

JAMES    CONNOLLY. 


F»I^1CE  ON^E     IPJE'NN'Y. 


An   CL6-Ci.iniAtni,  Great  Strand  Street,   Dublin, 


1     THE  SOCIALIST  PARTY  OF   IRELAND 

'  'K     That  society,  as  at  present  constituted,  consists  of  two  classes, 

the  capitaHst  class,  who  own  all  the  instruments  of  production  and 
distribution ;  and  the  working  class,  who  possess  nothing  but  their 
labour-power,  or  capability  to  work,  mentally  or  physically. 

That  as  labour  produces  all  wealth  the  justice  or  injustice  of 
social  conditions  becomes  apparent  in  the  division  of  labour's 
product.  Under  present  conditions  the  division  is — masters'  profits 
and  workers'  wages.  Profit  is  that  portion  of  wealth  over  and  above 
his  wages  which  the  worker  produces.  Wages  are  the  price  of  labour. 
As  both  wages  and  profits  are  derived  from  the  product  of  labour,  it 
follows  that  Avhen  the  master's  profits  increase  the  greater  is  the 
robbery  and  exploitation  of  the  Avorker.  Contrariwise,  increased 
wages  cause  decreased  profits.  Thus  we  find  the  masters'  ami 
xvorkers   interests  totally  opposed. 

That  the  capitalist  class  control  the  power  of  the  State,  which 
they  use  in  their  own  interest,  and  as  long  as  they  possess  control  of 
these  powers  no  permanent  measure  of  reform  can  be  attained  by 
the  workers. 

That  the  remedy  for  the  existing  social  slavery  is  to  be  found  in 
the  capture  of  political  power  by  the  working  class,  and  the 
establishment  of  a 

SOCIALIST    RKHIBLIC 

based  on  co-operative  production  with  equal  opportunities  for  all. 

That  this  can  only  be  attained  through  the  complete  organization 
of  the  workers  in  a  thoroughly  class-conscious  political  party,  such 
as  the  Socialist  Party  of  Ireland. 

That  as  other  political  parties,  refusing  to  accept  these 
principles,  are  merely  the  expression  of  the  interests  of  various 
sections  of  the  capitalist  class,  there  can  be  no  fusion  or  amalgama- 
tion with  them. 


BRANCHES  WANTED  EVERYWHERE.    ENQUIRIES  INVITED. 


THE  HISTORICAL  BASIS  OF  SOCIALISM  IN  IRELAND 

BY    THOMAS     BRADY. 

The  author  does  not  advocate  socialism  as  an  evangel  brought 
from  abroad.  He  takes  up  Irish  History  and  subjecting  it  to  the 
materialist  interpretation  of  Marx,  shows  how  the  succession  of 
class  struggles,  beginning  at  the  very  dawn  of  history  in  the 
Milesian  conquest  and  carried  on  to-day  in  the  struggle  between 
Capital  and  Labour,  must  inevitably  lead  to  Socialism. 

Pricef    Id.;    by    Post 9    lld» 


MAY  2      1986  WWW  ««"»^ )-™*^^ 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  present  publication  is  one  of  a  series  of  pamphlets  The 
Socialist  Party  of  Ireland  proposes  to  issue  on  the  political 
and  social  position  of  the  Irish  people. 

They  will  aim  at  familiarising  the  reading-  and  thinking 
public  WTth  that  mterpretation  of  the  recorded  facts  of  our  national 
history,'  which  at  once  explains  and  justifies  the  uprise  of  a 
Republican  and  Socialist  Party  in  Irish  political  life.  Hitherto 
Irish  histon,-  has  been  written  almost  exclusively  from  a 
middle-class  standpoint  with  results  that  can  only  be  fully  appre- 
ciated by  those  whose  historical  studies  have  rested  upon  a 
thorough  scientific  basis,  and  who  are  therefore  competent  to  place 
in  their  proper  relation  to  each  other,  the  heterogeneous  mass  of 
facts  (and  fictions)  which  pass  muster  as  history.  The  maler'alist 
conception  of  history — the  truth  that  a  rational  explanation  of  the 
course  taken  by  human  society  must  be  sought  in  the  influence 
which  their  material  environment  has  had  upon  the  minds  of  the 
men  and  women  with  whom  history  has  to  deal — furnishes  this 
scientific  basis.  Applying-  it  to  the  present,  we  find  that  the 
government  of  every  civilised  country  is  simply  a  committee  of  the 
rich  who  conduct  the  affairs  of  state  in  the  interests  of  the  upper 
class,  and  that,  in  like  manner,  every  political  party  is  the  party  of 
a  class  and  seeks  to  acquire  power  in  the  interest  of  the  class  who 
officer  irs  organisation  and  furnish  its  finances.  In  other  words,  a 
political  party  is  the  weapon  with  which  a  particular  class  in  the 
communitv  seeks  to  create  and  maintain  the  conditions  most 
favourable  to  its  own  class  rule,  to  secure  for  its  own  members  the 
greatest  share  of  the  wealth  whicli  exists  as  the  common  product 
of  society. 

There  are  in  Ireland  to-day,  apart  from  The  Socialist  P:irty,  two 
political  parties.  The  ConservatiNe  party — the  party  of  the  rent- 
receiving  landlord,  and  the  so-called  Home  Rule  party — the  polit"cal 
guardian  of  the  profit-grinding  capitalist.  Between  those  two 
there  exists  an  apparent  antagonism,  but  a  real  identity  of  interests. 
The  one,  openly  conser\"ative,  seeks  to  retain  intact  the  institution 
of  private  property  in  land  ;  the  other,  while  professedly  democratic 
and  national,  also  opposes  any  solution  of  the  land  question  which 
by  rooting  the  peasantry  on  the  soil  would  deprive  the  Irish  middle- 
class  of  the  services  of  those  landless  labourers,  who  thronging 
into  the  towns  and  competing  for  employment,  drive  down  wages 
and  so  become  the  human  stepping-stones  by  which  their  wealthy 
compatriots  pass  to  ease  and  fortune.  The  first  party  openly 
relies  on  the  British  connection  for  the  maintenance  of  its 
prerogatives,  the  second  keeps  up  a  continual  sham  fight  with  the 
official  representatives  of  that  connection,  but  in  the  wildest  flights 
of  its  ultra-patriotic  orations,  secretly  relies  on  a  timely  manifesta- 


tion  of  Imperial  power  to  pro\  ide  a  decent  excuse  for  eatini,^  their 
words  and  counselling-  "prudence"  when  the  time  comes  for 
revolutionary  action. 

In  opposing-  both  parties,  as  enemies  to  Labour,  The  Socialist 
I'arty  of  Ireland  stands  to-day  in  much  the  same  position  as  Fintan 
Lalor  occupied  in  '48.  Indeed  a  most  striking  parallel  exists- 
between  his  time  and  our  own.  In  '48  there  stood  on  the  one  side 
the  landlords  backed  up  by  the  government  in  demanding  their 
rents,  while  the  people  were  left  to  star\-e  in  the  midst  of  plenty. 
On  the  other  side,  there  stood,  nominally  in  opposition  to  the 
goAernment,  the  iwo  sections  of  the  Repeal  Party.  Of  these  twa 
sections,  one,  the  Repeal  Association,  was  tame,  constitutional,, 
and  time-serving,  its  only  hope  being  to  secure  the  good  offices  of 
middle-class  English  politicians,  repealers  and  repealers  only.  The 
other  section,  the  Confederation,  intelligent,  honest  and  sincere- 
according  to  their  lights,  but  (with  a  few  exceptions,  such  as  John 
Mitchel)  like  the  lirst,  thoroug-hly  conservative  on  the  really 
fundam.ental  question  of  property,  firm  belicAcrs  in  rent,  interest 
and  profit,  outA-ying  e^-en  the  g'overnment  in  their  insistence  on  the 
landlord's  right  to  his  rent,  also  repealers  only,  but,  under  a 
multitude  of  grandiloquent  phrases  hiding  even  from  themselves 
the  utter  paltriness  of  our  ideal.  To-da}-  we  have  in  our  midst 
the  same  storv  repeated.  In  the  Home  Rule  camp  again 
exist  two  opposing  sections,  the  most  advanced  of  whom  are  as 
hopelessly  conservative  as  ever  in  their  opposition  to  the  claim  oi 
the  labourer  to  the  full  produce  of  his  toil.  Under  these  circum- 
stances. The  Socialist  Party  of  Ireland,  as  the  only  political  party 
in  Ireland  which  fully  accepts  Fintan  Lalor's  teaching,  from  his 
declaration  of  principles  to  his  system  of  insurrection,  hopes  that  in 
issuing  this  pamphlet  they  will  succeed  in  bringing'  home  to  the 
minds  of  their  fellows,  a  realisation  of  the  necessity  which  exists 
for  the  creation  of  a  party  which  shall  aim  at  giving  effective 
political  expression  to  the  twin  ideas  of  national  and  industrial 
freedom  noAv  so  hopelessly  divorced  in  the  public  life  of  Ireland. 

Of  the  man  himself  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  inform  our  readers 
that  hew^as  descended  from  a  family  noted  in  Irish  history  for  their 
rebellious  tendencies,  that  is,  for  their  restlessness  under  injustice. 
One  of  the  seven  septs  of  Leix  (Queen's  Co.)  they  were  transplanted 
to  Kerry  in  1609  by  Chichester  under  orders  from  James  I.  They 
had  rebelled  eighteen  times  against  the  plantations  ordered  by 
Oueen  Mary  and  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  had  been  nearlv  exter- 
minated in  consequence,  and  the  government  hoped  bv  thus 
removing  them  to  remote  and  unfamiliar  territory  to  curb  their 
native  impetuosity.  But  at  each  successive  rebellion  they  were 
always  running  back  to  their  old  tribelands,  and  it  was  probably 
in  this  way  the  ancestors  of  our  author  found  their  way  to,  and 
eventually  settled  at,  Tenakilk  Fintan  Lalor  himself  was  born  in 
1809,  but  did  not  come  into  public  life  until  1847.  After  the 
suppression  of  the  United  Irishman  newspaper  and  the  sentence 
upon  its  editor,  John  Mitchel,  of  14  years  transportation,  Lalor 
stepped    into   the  breach    as    principal   writer   In    the    Ti-ish    Felon. 


edited  by  John  Martin.  Tlie  Irish  Fi'h>)i  was  also  suppressed  and 
Lalor  arrested  at  Ballyhane,  County  Tipperary,  where  he  was 
endeavourincj  to  ors^anise  a  revolt  of  the  peasantry.  He  was 
removed  to  Xewijate  prison,  Dublin,  where  he  was  conhned,  until, 
his  health  completely  breaking;  down,  he  was  released — to  die. 
He  died  as  he  had  li\ed,  a  revolutionist  and  a  rebel  ag'ainsl  all 
iorms  ol  political  and  social  injustice,  and  for  nearly  fifty  years 
the  middle-class  "  patriots  "  who  write  Irekand's  historv  have 
honoured  his  memory  by  boycotting-  his  writinufs  and  slurrintr  over 
his  name.  May  the  labours  of  our  Irish  democracy  inscribe  on  thi 
passes  of  their  countrv"s  historv  a  more  fittin<>'  tribute  to  his  gfenius. 


J.AMKS  CONNOLLY. 


THE    RIGHTS   OF   IRELAND. 


(From  the  first  number  of  the  IrisJi  Felon.  June  24th,  184S.J 

TO  found  a  paper  like  the  Irish  Felon,  far  the  mere  purpose, 
in  whole  or  in  part,  of  m-aking-  a  fortune  or  making-  a 
farthing-,  would  be  a  felon's  crime  indeed,  deserving  no 
hero's  doom,  lamented  death,  or  honoured  exile,  but  death 
on  the  scaffold,  amid  the  scoff  and  .scorn  of  the  world.  For  years 
we  have  seen  men  in  Ireland  alternately  trading  on  the  g-overnment 
and  trading  on  the  country,  and  making  money  by  both  ;  and  you 
do  not  imagine,  perhaps,  to  what  deg-ree  the  public  mind  has  been 
affected  with  a  feeling-  of  suspicion  by  the  circumstance — a  feeling- 
deepened,  extended  and  justified,  by  all  w^e  see  or  know  of 
ourselves.  For,  mdeed,  the  craving-  to  get  money — tlie  niggard 
reluctance  to  give  money — the  coward  fear  of  losing-  or  laying  out 
money — is  the  bad  and  coarse  point  that  is  most  apparent  in  the 
character  of  all  ranks  and  classes  of  our  people  ;  and  I  often  fear  it 
argues  an  utter  absence  of  all  heroism  from  our  national  tempera- 
ment, and  of  all  the  romantic  passions,  whether  p-ubUc  or  private. 
In  other  countries  men  marry  for  love  ;  in  Ireland  they  marry  for 
money.  Elsewhere  they  serve  their  country  for  their  country's 
thanks  or  their  country's  tears — here  they  do  it  for  their  country's 
money.  At  this  very  time,  when  Ireland,  to  all  appearance,  is 
stripping  for  her  last  struggle  on  this  side  of  ages,  there  are,  I  am 
convinced,  many  persons  among  the  middle  classes  who  refuse  to 
fall  into  the  national  march,  or  countenance  the  national  move- 
ment, merely  from  the  hope — in  most  cases  as  vain  as  it  is  vile — 
of  obtaining  some  petty  government  place  ;  or  from  the  fear  of 
losing  some  beggarly  employment  or  emolument  ;  and  I  know 
myself  in  this  country  many  and  many  a  sturdy  and  comfortable 
farmer  who  refuses  to  furnish  himself  Vv-ith  a  pike,  merely  and 
solely  because  it  vrould  cost  him  two  shillings.  For  ourselves — 
I  say  nothing  of  others — let  us  aim  at  better  rewards  than  mere 
money  rewards.  Better  and  higher  rewards  has  Ireland  in  her 
hands.  If  we  succeed,  we  shall  obtain  these  ;  and  if  we  do  not  , 
succeed,  we  shall  deserve  none.  In  cases  like  this,  the  greatest 
crime  that  man  can  commit  is  the  crime  of  failure.  I  am  convinced 
ifc  has  become  essential  to  our  fame  and  our  effectiveness — to  the 
success  of  our  cause  and  the  character  of  our  country,  to  keep 
clear  and  secure  ourselves  from  the  suspicion  th.at  our  only  object 
may  be  nothing  more  than  a  long  and  lucrative  agitation.  The 
Confederation  pledged  its  members  to  accept  no  office  or  place  of 
profit  from  an  English  government.  That  pledge  was  eflicient. 
perhaps,  for  its  own  professed  purposes,  but  not  for  others — for 
an  "  agitation  "  has  places  and  profits  of  its  owv.  to  bestow.  Let 
them  say  of  us  whatever  else  they  will — let  thein  call  us  felons, 
and  treat  us  as  such,  but  let  them  not,  at  least,  have  the  power  to 
call  us  swindlers.  We  may  be  famous  ; — let  us  not  becon^ve 
infamous. 


For  these  and  other  st'U  more  important  reasons,  needless  to  be 
stated  as  yet,  I  certainly  could  have  wished  that  this  journal  had 
been  established  on  a  subscribed  capital,  and  the  effective  owner- 
ship vested  in  a  joint  stock  company  of,  say  eiijht  hundred  or  a 
thousand  proprietors.  What  is  there  to  hinder  that  this  arrange- 
ment should  be  made  even  now?  It  would  contain  securities,  and 
create  powers,  which  no  other  could  offer  or  pretend  to.  There 
are,  indeed,  some  practical  difficulties  in  the  way,  but  they  might 
easily,  I  think,  be  overcome.  Whether  any  such  arrangement  be 
adopted  or  not,  I  believe,  however,  that  I  am  fully  warranted  in 
desiring — and  I  think  that  our  own  true  interest  and  honour  concur 
in  demanding — that  the  Felon  oflice  shall  not  be  a  commercial 
establishment,  but  organised  and  animated  as  a  great  political 
association.  And,  for  my  part,  I  enter  it  with  the  ho{>e  and 
determination  to  make  it  an  armed  post,  a  fortress  for  freedom  to 
be,  perhaps,  taken  and  retaken  again,  and  yet  again  ;  but  never 
to  surrender,  nor  stoop  its  flag,  till  that  flag  shall  float  above  a 
liberated  nation. 

Without  agreement  as  to  our  objects  we  cannot  agree  on  the 
course  we  should  follow.  It  is  requisite  the  paper  should  have  but 
one  purpose  ;  and  the  public  should  understand  what  that  purpose 
is  ]\Iine  is  not  to  repeal  the  Union,  or  restore  Eighty-two.  This 
is  not  the  year  '82,  this  is  the  vear  '48.  For  repeal  I  never  went 
into  "  Agitation  "  and  will  not  go  into  insurrection.  On  that 
question  I  refuse  to  arm,  or  to  act  in  any  mode  ;  and  the  country 
refuses.  O'Connell  made  no  mistake  when  he  pronounced  it  not 
worth  the  price  of  one  drop  of  blood  ;  and  for  myself,  I  regret  it 
A\as  not  left  in  the  hands  of  Conciliation  Hall,  whose  lawful 
property  it  was  and  is.  Moral  force  and  Repeal,  the  means  and 
llie  purpose,  were  just  fitted  to  each  other — Arcades  amho,  balm} 
x\rcadians  both.  When  the  means  were  limited,  it  was  onh' 
proper  and  necessary  to  limit  the  purpose.  When  the  means  were 
enlarged,  that  purpose  ought  to  have  been  enlarged  also.  Repeal, 
in  its  vulgar  meaning,  I  look  on  as  utterly  impracticable  by  any 
mode  of  action  whatever  ;  and  the  constitution  of  '82  was 
absurd,  worthless,  and  wor.se  than  worthless.  The  English 
government  will  never  concede  or  surrender  to  any  species  of 
moral  force  whatsoever  ;  and  the  country-peasantry  will  never 
?rm  and  fight  for  it — neither  will  I.  If  I  am  to  stake  life  and  fame 
it  must  assuredly  be  for  something  better  and  greater,  more  likely 
to  last,  more  likely  to  succeed,  and  better  worth  success.  And  a 
stronger  passion,  a  higher  purpose,  a  nobler  and  more  needtui 
enterprise  is  fermenting  the  hearts  of  the  people.  .A  mightier 
question  mo\es  Ireland  to-day  than  that  of  merely  repeul'ng  the 
Act  of  Union.  Not  the  constitution  that  Wolfe  Tone  died  to 
abolish,  but  the  constitution  that  Tone  died  to  obtain — indepen 
dence  ;  full  and  absolute  independence  for  this  island,  and  lor 
evtry  man  within  this  island.  Into  no  movement  that  would  leave 
an  enemy's  garrison  in  possession  of  all  our  lands,  masters  of  our 
liberties,  our  lives,  and  all  our  means  of  life  and  happiness — into 
no  such  movement  will  a  single  man   of  the  greycoats  enter  with 


iiii  armed  hand,  whatever  the  town  popuhition  may  do.  On  a 
wider  fig^hting  field,  with  stronger  positions  and  greater  resources 
than  are  afforded  by  the  pahry  question  of  Repeal,  must  we  close 
for  our  final  struggle  with  England,  or  sink  and  surrender. 

Ireland  her  own — Ireland  her  own,  and  all  therein,  from  the  sod 
to  the  sky.  The  soil  of  Ireland  for  the  people  of  Ireland,  to  have 
and  hold  from  God  alone  who  gave  it — to  have  and  to  hold  to  them 
and  their  heirs  for  ever,  without  suit  or  service,  faith  or  fealty, 
rent  or  render,  to  any  power  under  Heaven.  From  a  worse 
bondage  than  the  bondage  of  any  foreign  government — from  a 
dominion  more  grievous  and  grinding^  than  the  dominion  of 
England  in  its  worst  days — from  the  cruellest  tyranny  that  ever 
yet  held  iis  \  ulture  clutch  on  the  body  and  soul  of  a  country — from 
the  robber  rights  and  robber  rule  that  ha^■e  turned  us  into  slaves 
and  beggars  in  the  land  which  God  gave  us  for  ours — Deliverance, 
oh  Lord,  Deliverance  or  death — Deli\erance,  or  this  island  a  desert. 
This  is  the  one  praver,  and  terrible  need,  and  real  passion  of 
Ireland  to-day,  as  it  has  been  for  ages.  Xow,  at  last  it  begins  to 
shape  into  defined  and  desperate  purpo.se  ;  and  into  it  all  meaner 
and  smaller  purpo.ses  must  .settle  and  merge.  It  might  ha\e  been 
kept  in  abeyance,  and  far  away  from  the  sight  of  the  sun — aye, 
even  till  this  old  native  race  had  been  finally  conquered  out  and 
extinguished,  sub  siJentio,  without  noise  or  notice.  But  once 
propounded  and  proclaimed  as  a  principle,  not  in  the  dust  of  remote 
country  districts,  but  loudly  and  proudly  in  the  tribunes  of  the 
capital,  it  must  now  be  accepted  and  declared  as  the  first  and  main 
Article  of  Association  in  the  National  Covenant  of  organised 
defence  and  armed  resistance  :  as  the  principle  to  take  ground,  and 
stand,  and  fight  upon.  When  a  greater  and  more  ennobling 
enterprise  is  on  foot,  everv  inlerior  and  feebler  project  or  proceed- 
ing will  soon  be  left  in  the  hands  of  old  women,  of  dastards, 
imposters,  swindlers,  and  imbeciles.  .\11  the  strength  and  manhood 
of  the  island—  all  the  courage,,  energies,  and  ambition— all  the 
passion,  heroism,  and  chivalry — all  the  strong  men  and  the  strong 
minds — all  those  that  make  revolutions  will  quickly  desert  it,  and 
throw  themselves  into  the  g'reat  movement,  throng  into  the  larger 
and  loftier  undertaking,  and  flock  round  the  banner  that  flies 
nearest  the  sky.  There  go  the  young,  the  gallant,  the  gifted,  and 
the  daring  ;  and  there,  too,  go  the  wi.se.  For  wisdom  knows  that 
in  national  action  JittJeuess  is  more  fatal  than  the  wildest  rashness; 
that  greatness  of  object  is  essential  to  greatness  of  effort,  strength, 
and  success  ;  that  a  revolution  ought  never  to  take  its  stand  on 
low  or  narrow-  ground,  but  seize  on  tlie  broadest  and  highest 
ground  it  can  lay  hands  on  ;  and  that  a  petty  enterprise  seldom 
succeeds.  Had  America  aimed  or  declared  for  less  than 
mdependence,  she  would,  probably,  have  failed,  and  been  a  fettered 
slave  to-day. 

Not  to  repeal  the  Union,  then,  but  the  conquest — not  to  disturb 
or  dismantle  the  empire,  but  to  aboli.sh  it  utterly  for  ever — not  to 
fall  back  on  '82,  but  act  up  to  '48 — not  to  resume  or  restore  an  old 
constitution,   but  found   a  new  nation  and   raise  up  a  free   people. 


and  strongs  as  well  as  free,  and  secure  as  well  as  strong",  based  Oii 
it  peasantry  rooted  like  rocks  in  the  soil  of  the  land — this  is  my 
object,  as  1  hope  it  is  yours  ;  and  this,  you  may  be  assured,  is  the 
easier  as  it  is  the  nobler  and  the  more  pressings  enterprise.  For 
repeal,  all  the  moral  means  at  our  disposal  have  in  turns  been 
used,  abused,  and  abandoned.  All  the  military  means  it  can 
command  will  fail  as  utterly.  Compare  the  two  questions.  Repeal 
would  require  a  national  organisation  ;  a  central  representative 
authority,  formally  elected  ;  a  reg'ular  army,  a  reg-ulated  war  of 
concentrated  action  and  combined  movement.  On  the  other 
question  all  circumstances  differ,  as  I  could  easily  show  you.  i^ut 
I  have  gone  into  this  portion  of  the  subject  prematurely  and 
unawares,  and  here  I  .stop — being  reluctant,  besides,  to  trespass 
too  long  on  the  time  of  her  Majesty's  legal  and  military  advi.sers. 

The  principle  I  state,  and  mean  to  stand  upon,  is  this,  thar  the 
entire  ownership  of  Ireland,  moral  and  material,  up  to  the  sun  and 
down  to  the  centre,  is  vested  of  right  in  the  people  of  Ireland  ; 
that  they,  and  none  but  they  are  the  land-owners  and  law-makers 
■of  this  island  ;  that  all  laws  are  null  and  void  not  made  by  them, 
and  all  titles  to  land  invalid  not  conferred  or  confirmed  by  them  ; 
and  that  this  full  right  of  ownership  may  and  ought  to  be  asserted 
and  enforced  by  any  and  all  means  which  God  has  put  in  the 
power  of  man.  In  other,  if  not  plainer  words,  I  hold  and  maintain 
that  the  entire  soil  of  a  country  belongs  of  right  to  the  entire 
people  of  that  country,  and  is  the  riglitful  property,  not  of  any  one 
class,  but  of  the  nation  at  larg-e,  in  full  effective  possession,  to  let 
to  whom  they  will,  on  whatever  tenures,  terms,  rents,  services  and 
conditions  they  will  ;  one  condition,  however,  being  una\oidable 
and  essential,  the  condition  that  the  tenant  shall  bear  full,  true, 
and  undivided  fealty  and  allegiance  to  the  nation.  and 
the  laws  of  the  nation  whose  land  he  holds,  and  own 
no  allegiance  whatsoever  to  any  other  prince,  power,  or 
people,  or  any  obligation  of  obedience  or  respect  tn  their 
will,  orders  or  laws.  I  hold  further,  and  hrmly  believe,  that  the 
enjoyment  by  the  people  of  this  right  of  first  ownership  of  the  soil, 
is  essential  to  the  vigour  and  vitality  of  all  other  rights  ;  tt  >  their 
validity,  efficacy,  and  value  ;  to  their  secure  possession  and  .sale 
exercise.  For  let  no  people  deceive  themselves,  or  be  deceived  by 
the  words  and  colours,  and  phrases,  and  form  of  a  mock  freedom, 
by  constitutions,  and  charters,  and  articles  and  franchise.  These 
thing-s  are  paper  and  parchment,  waste  and  worthless.  Let  laws 
and  institutions  sav  what  thev  will,  tliis  f.act  will  be  stronger  than 
all  laws,  and  prevail  ag:nnst  them — the  fact  tliat  those  who  own 
vOuh  lands  will  make  vour  laws,  and  command  your  liberties  and 
vour  lives.  But  this  is  tvrannv  and  slavery  ;  tyranny  in  it.^  A\idest 
scope  and  worst  shape  ;  slaverv  of  body  and  soul,  from  the  cradle 
to  the  coHin — slavery  with  all  its  horrors,  and  with  none  of  its 
physical  comforts  and  security  ;  even  as  it  is  in  Ireland,  where  the 
whole  communit\'  is  made  up  of  tyrants,  slaves,  and  slave-drivers. 
A  people  whose  lands  and  lives  are  thus  in  the  keeping"  and  custody 
of  others,  instead  of  in  their  own.  are  not  in  a  position  of  coi^mon 


10 

satiety.  The  Irish  famine  of  "47  is  example  and  proof.  The  corn 
crops  were  sufficient  to  feed  the  island.  But  the  landlords  it'ow/d 
have  their  rents,  in  spite  of  famine  and  defiance  of  fever.  They 
took  the  whole  harvest  and  left  hunger  to  those  who  raised  it. 
Had  the  people  of  Ireland  been  the  landlords  of  Ireland,  not  a 
human  creature  would  have  died  of  hunger,  nor  the  failure  of  the 
potato  been  considered  a  matter  of  any  consequence. 

There  are,  however,  many  landlords,  perhaps,  and  certainly  a 
few,  not  fairly  chargeable  with  the  crimes  of  their  orders  ;  and  you 
may  think  it  hard  they  should  lose  their  lands.  But  recollect  the 
principle  I  assert  would  make  Ireland,  m  fact  as  she  is  of  right, 
mistress  and  queen  of  all  those  lands  ;  that  sl>e,  poor  lady,  had 
ever  a  soft  heart  and  grateful  disposition  ;  and  that  she  may,  if  she 
please,  in  reward  of  allegiance,  confer  new  titles  or  confirm  the 
old.  Let  us  crown  her  a  queen  ;  and  then — let  her  do  with  her 
lands  as  a  queen  may  do. 

In  the  case  of  any  existing'  interest,  of  what  nature  soever,  I 
feel  assured  that  no  question  but  one  would  need  to  be  answered. 
Does  the  owner  of  that  interest  assent  to  swear  allegiance  to  the 
people  of  Ireland,  and  to  hold  in  fee  from  the  Irish  nation?  If  he 
assent  he  may  be  assured  he  will  suffer  no  loss.  No  eventual  or 
permanent  loss  I  mean  ;  for  some  temporary  loss  he  must  assuredly 
suffer.  But  such  loss  would  be  incidental  and  inevitable  to  any 
armed  insurrection  whatever,  no  matter  on  what  principle  the  right 
of  resistance  .-should  be  resorted  to.  If  he  refuses,  then  I  say — 
away  with  him — out  of  this  land  with  him — himself  and  all  his 
robber  rights,  and  all  the  things  himself  and  his  rights  have 
brought  into  our  island — blood  and  tears,  and  famine,  and  the 
fever  that  goes  with  famine. 

Between  the  relative  merits  and  importance  of  the  two  rights, 
the  people's  right  to  the  land,  and  their  right  to  legislation,  I  do 
not  mean  or  wish  to  ins'titute  any  comparison.  I  am  far,  indeed, 
from  desirous  to  put  the  two  rights  in  competition  or  contrast,  for 
I  consider  each  alike  as  the  natural  complement  of  the  other, 
necessary  to  its  theoretical  completeness  and  practical, efificacy. 
But  considering  them  for  a  moment  as  distinct,  I  do  not  mean  to 
assert  this — that  the  land  question  contains,  and  the  legislative 
question  does  Jiot  contain,  the  materials  from  which  victory  is 
manii^ftLCtured  ;  and  that,  therefore,  if  we  be  truly  in  earnest,  and 
determined  on  success,  it  is  on  the  former  question,  and  not  on  the 
latter,  we  must  take  our  stand,  fling  out  our  banner,  and  hurl 
down  to  England  our  gage  of  battle.  Victory  follows  that  banner 
alone — that,  and  no  other. 

This  island  is  ours,  and  have  it  we  will,  if  the  leaders  be  but  true 
to  the  people,  and  the  people  be  true  to  themselves. 

The  rights  of  property  may  be  pleaded.  No  one  has  a  higher 
respect  for  the  real  rights  of  property  than  I  have  ;  but  I  do  not 
class  among  them  the  robber's  right,  by  which  the  lands  of  this 
county  are  now  held  in  fee  from  the  British  crown.  I  acknowledge 
no  right  of  property  in  a  small  class  which  goes  to  abrogate  the 
rights  of  a  numerous  people.     I  acknowledge  no  right  of  property 


11 

in  eight  thousand  persons,  be  the}'  noble  or  ig'noble,  which  takes 
away  all  rigfhts  of  property,  security,  independence,  and  existence 
itself,  from  a  population  of  eig-ht  millions,  and  stands  in  bar  to  all 
the  political  rights  of  the  island,  and  all  the  social  rights  of  its 
inhabitants.  I  acknowledge  no  right  of  property  which  takes  t!ie 
food  of  millions,  and  gives  them  a  famine — which  denies  to  the 
peasant  the  right  of  a  home,  and  concedes,  in  exchangCj  the  right 
or  a  workhouse.  I  deny  and  challenge  all  such  rights,  howsoever 
founded  or  enforced.  I  challenge  them,  as  founded  only  on  the 
code  of  the  brigand,  and  enforced  only  by  the  sanction  of  the 
hangman.  Against  them  I  as.sert  the  true  and  indefeasible  right 
of  property — the  right  of  our  people  to  live  in  't  in  comfort, 
security,  and  independence,  and  to  live  in  it  by  their  own  labour, 
on  their  own  land,  as  God  and  nature  meant  them  to  do.  Against 
them  I  sliall  array,  if  I  can,  all  the  forces  that  yet  remain  in  this 
island.  And  against  them  I  am  determined  to  make  war. — to  their 
destruction  or  my  own. 

These  are  my  principles  and  views.  I  shall  have  other  oppor- 
tunities to  develop  and  defend  them.  I  have  some  few  other 
requisitions  to  make  but  I  choose  to  defer  them  for  other  reasons 
besides  want  of  time  and  space.  Our  first  business,  before  we  can 
advance  a  step,  is  to  fix  our  own  footing  and  make  good  our 
position.  This  once  done,  this  contest  must,  if  possibie,  be 
brought  to  a  speedy  close. 


THE     FAITH     OF     A     FELON. 


(From   the  Irish  Felon,  July  8th,    1848.) 


\\'hen  Mr.  Duffy  expected  arrest,  some  weeks  ago,  h-e  drew  up 
his  profession  of  principles,,  "  The  Creed  of  The  N(ation.'' 
Under  influences  of  similar  feelings  and  considerations,  though  noi 
■exactly  the  same,  nor  excited  by  circumstances  altogether  alike,  I 
iiasten  to  put  my  own  principles  upon  record.  Until  yesterday  I 
did  not  intend  to  have  done  this  for  some  weeks  to  come.  The 
statement  or  confession  of  faith  that  follows  I  could  have  wished 
for  time  to  make  niore  correct  and  complete.  It  is  ill-framed. 
ili-connected,  and  wants  completeness.  But,  even  such  as  it 
stands,  I  do  firmly  believe  that  it  carries  the  fortunes  of  Ireland  ; — 
and  even  such  as  it  stands,  I  now  send  it  forth  to  its  fate,  to 
conquer  or  be  conquered.  It  may  be  master  of  Ireland  and  make 
her  a  Queen  ;  it  may  lie  in  the  dust  and  perish  with  her  people. 

Here,  then,  is  the  confession  and  faith  of  a  Felon. 

"^  ears  ago  I  perceived  that  the  English  conquest  consisted  of  two 
parts  combined  into  one  whole, — the  conquest  of  our  liberties,  the 
conquest  of  our  lands. 

I  saw  clearly  that  the  re-conquest  of  our  liberties  would  be 
incomplete  and  worthless  without  the  re-conquest  of  our  lands.— 
would  not,   necessarily,   involve  or  produce  that  of  our  lands,  and 


12 

could  not,  Jon  its  own  means,  be  possibly  achieved  ;  while  the' 
re-conquest  of  our  lands  would  involve  the  other — would,  at  least, 
be  complete  in  itself,  and  adequate  to  its  own  purposes  ;  and  cou'd 
possibly,  if  not  easily.,  be  achie\ed. 

The  lands  were  owned  by  the  conqut-riny  race,  or  by  traitors  to 
the  conquered  race.  They  were  occupied  by  the  native  people,  or 
by  settlers  who  had  minified  and  merg-ed. 

I  selected,  as  the  mode  of  re-conquesc  —  to  refuse  payment  of 
rent,  and  resist  process  of  ejecrment. 

In  that  mode  1  determined  to  effect  the  re-conquest,  and  staked 
on  it  all  my  hopes,  here  and  hereafter — ni}-  hopes  of  an  effective 
life  and  an  eternal  epitaph. 

It  almost  seemed  to  me  as  if  the  Youni^  Ireland  party,  the 
quarrel,  the  secession,  tlie  Confederation,  liad  all  been  specially 
pre-ordained  and  produced  in  order  to  aid  me.  .Vly  faith  in  the 
men  .who  formed  the  Council  of  that  body  was  then  unbounded. 
Tsly  faith  in  them  still  is  as  firm  as  ever,  thoui^h  somewhat  more 
measured.  In  the  paper  I  published  last  week,  and  in  a  private 
correspondence  that  ensued  with  some  of  its  members,  I  proposed 
that  they  should  merg'e  the  Repeal  question  in  a  mii^htier  project — 
that  of  wresting'  this  island  from  an  English  rule  altogether,  in  the 
only  mode  in  which  it  could  possibly  be  achieved.  I  endeavoured 
to  show  them  they  were  only  keeping  up  a  feeble  and  ineffectual 
fire  from  a  foolish  distance,  upon  the  EngJis]!  Govevyiment.  which 
stands  out  of  reach  and  beyond  our  power  ;  and  urged  them  to 
wheel  their  batteries  round  and  bend  tht-m  on  the  English 
Garrison  of  landlords,  who  stand  there  within  our  hands, 
scattered,  isolated,  and  helpless,  girdled  round  by  the  m.ight  of 
a  people.  Except  two  or  three  of  them,  all  refu.sed  at  the  time, 
and  have  persisted  in  refusing  until  now.  They  wanted  an 
alliance  with  the  landowners.  They  chose  to  consider  them  as 
Irishmen,  and  imagined  they  could  induce  them  to  hoist  the  green 
iiag.  They  wished  to  preserve  an  Aristocracy.  They  desired,  not 
a  democratic,  but  merelv  a  national  revolution.  Who  imputes 
blame  to  them  for  this?  Whoever  does  so  will  not  have  me  to 
join  him.  I  ha\'e  no  feeling  but  one  of  respect  for  the  motives 
that  caused  reluctance  and  delay.  That  delay,  however,  I  consider 
as  a  matter  of  deep  regret.  Had  the  Confederation,  in  the  May 
or  June  of  'i7,  thrown  heart  and  mind  and  means  and  mig-ht  into 
the  movement  I  pointed  out,  they  would  have  made  it  successful, 
and  settled  at  once  and  for  ever  all  quarrels  and  questions  between 
lis  and   England. 

The  opinions  I  then  stated,  and  which  I  yet  stand  firm  to,  are 
the.se  :  — 

I.  That  in  order  to  sa^■e  their  own  lives,  the  occupying  tenants 
of  the  soil  of  Ireland  ought,  next  autumn,  to  refu.se  all  rent  and 
arrears  of  rent  tlven  due,  beyond  and  except  the  value  of  the 
overplus  of  harvest  produce  remaining  in  their  hands  after  having 
deducted  and  reserved  a  due  and  full  provision  for  their  own 
subsistence  during  the  next  ensuing  twelve  months. 


13 

II.  That  they  oui^ht  to  refuse  and  resist  being'  made  beggars^ 
hmdless  and  houseless,  under  the  Eng-hsh  hiw  of  ejection. 

III.  That  the}-  oug-ht  further,  on  principle,  to  refuse  all  rent  to 
tlie  present  usurping-  proprietors,  until  the  people,  tlie  true  pro- 
prietors (or  lord  paramount,  in  leg-al  parlance),  have,  in  national 
congress,  or  con\ention,  decided  ivhat  rents  they  are  io  pay,  and 
io  ivhom  they  are  to  pay  them. 

IV.  And  that  the  people,  on  g-rounds  of  policy  and  ccoioniv. 
oug-ht  to  decide  (as  a  general  rule,  admitting  of  reservations)  that 
those  rents  shall  be  paid  to  themselves,  the  people,  for  public 
purpose'^,  and  for  behoof  and  benefit  of  them,  the  entire  geiieral 
people. 

These  are  the  principles,  as  clearly  and  fully  stated  as  limit  of 
time  will  allow,  wliich  I  advise  Ireland  to  adopt  at  once,  and  at 
once  to  arm  for.  Should  the*  people  accept  and  adhere  to  them, 
the  English  government  will  then  ha\e  to  choose  whether  to 
surrender  the  Irisli  landloi'ds,  or  to  support  them  with  the  arnied. 
power  of  the  empire. 

It  it  reiuse  to  incur  tlu  odium  and  expense,  and  to  peril  the 
salety  of  England  in  a  social  v/ar  of  extermination,  then  the  land- 
lords are  nobodie.--,  the  people  are  lords  of  the  land,  a  mighty  social 
revolution  is  acconijjiished,  and  the  foundation  of  a  national 
revolution  .-^urelv  laid,  li  it  should,  on  the  other  hand,  determine 
to  come  to  the  rescue  and  relief  of  its  garrison — elect  to  force  their 
rents  and  enforce  their  rig'hts  by  infantry,  cavalry,  and  cannon, 
and  attenipt  to  lifi  and  carry  the  whole  harvest  of  Ireland — a 
somewhat  heavy  undertaking,  which  might  become  a  hot  one,  too 
— then  I,  at  least,  for  one,  am  prepared  to  bow  Avlth  humble 
resignation  to  tlie  clispei"\sations  of  Pro\-idencc.  \\'elcome  be  the 
will  of  God.  \\'e  must  only  try  tf)  keep  our  harvest,  to  offer  a 
peaceful,  passive  resistance,  to  barricade  tlie  island,  to  break  up 
the  roads,  to  break  down  the  bridges— and,  should  need  be,  and 
favourable  occasions  offer,  surely  we  ma}-  A'enture  to  try  the  steel. 
Other  approved  n^odes  of  moral  resi>t;!nce  might  gradually  be 
added  to  these,  according  as  we  shoukl  become  trained  to  the 
system  :  and  all  combined,  I  imagine,  and  well  worked,  might 
possibly  task  the  strength  and  break  the  heart  of  the  empire. 

Into  artistic  details,  however,  I  need  not.  and  do  not  choose,  to 
enter  for  the  present. 

It  has  been  said  to  nie  that  such  a  war,  on  the  principles  I 
propose,  would  be  looked  on  Avith  detestation  by  Europe.  I  assert 
the  contrarv  :  I  sa\-  such  a  war  would  propagate  itself  throughout 
Europe.  Mark  "tlie  words  of  this  prophecy; — the  principle  I 
propound  goes  to  the  foundations  of  Europe,  and  sooner  or  later. 
will  cause  Europe  to  outrise.  Mankind  will  yet  be  masters  of  the 
earth.  The  right  of  the  people  to  make  the  laws — this  produced 
the  first  great  modern  earthquake,  whose  latest  shocks,  even  now. 
are  heaving  in  the  heart  of  the  world.  The  right  of  the  people  to 
own  the  land — this  will  produce  the  next.  Train  your  hands,  and 
vour  sons'  hands,  gentlemen  of  earth,  for  you  and  thev  will  yet 
have  to  use  them.  I  want  to  put  Ireland  foremost,  in  the  van  of 
the  world,  at  the  head  of  the  nations — to  set  her  aloft  in  the  bla;?e 


of  the  sunj  and  to  make  her  for  ages  the  lode  star  of  history.  Will 
she  take  the  path  I  poinc  out — the  path  to  be  free,  and  famed,  and 
feared,  and  followed — the  path  that  g"oes  sunward?  Or,  onward 
to  the  end  of  time,  will  wretched  Ireland  ever  come  limping-  and 
lagging  hindmost?  Events  must  answer  that.  It  is  a  question 
I  almost  fear  to  look  full  in  the  face.  The  soul  of  this  island  seems 
lo  sink  where  that  of  another  country  would  soar.  The  people 
sank  and  surrendered  to  the  famine  instead  of  growing  savage,  as 
any  other  people  would  have  done. 

I  am  reminded  that  there  are  fevv'  persons  now  who  trouble 
themselves  about  the  "conquest,"  and  there  may  be  many — I 
■  know  there  are  some — who  assent  to  the  two  first  of  the  four 
principles  I  have  stated,  and  are  willing'  to  accept  them  as  the 
grounds  of  an  armed  movement  ;  but  who  object  to  the  last  two 
of  them.  I  am  advised  to  summon  the  land  tenants  of  Ireland  up 
in  battle-array  for  an  armed  struggle  in  defence  of  their  rights  of 
life  and  subsistence,  without  asserting  any  greater  or  more  com- 
prehensive right.  I  distinctly  refuse  to  do  so.  I  refuse  to  narrow 
the  case  and  claim  of  this  island  into  any  such  petty  dimensions, 
or  to  found  it  on  the  rogue's  or  the  beggar's  plea,  the  plea  of 
necessity.  Not  as  a  starving  bandit  or  desperate  beggar  who 
demands,  to  save  life,  what  does  not  belong  to  him,  do  I  wish 
Ireland  to  stand  up,  but  as  a  decrowned  Queen,  who  claims  back 
her  own  with  an  armed  hand.  I  attest  and  urge  the  plea  of  utter 
and  desperate  necessity  to  fortify  her  claim,  but  not  to  found  it. 
I  rest  it  on  no  temporary  and  passing  conditions,  but  on  principles 
that  are  permanent,  and  imperishable  and  universal  ; — available  to 
all  times  and  to  all  countries,  as  well  as  to  our  own, — I  pierce 
through  the  upper  stratum  of  occasional  and  shifting  circumstance 
to  bottom  and  base  on  the  rock  below\  I  put 'the  question  in  its 
eternal  form, — the  form  in  ■\\hich,  how  often  soever  suppressed  for 
a  season,  it  can  never  be  finally  subdued,  but  will  remain  and 
return,  outliving  and  outlasting  the  corruption  and  cowardice  of 
generations.  I  view  it  as  ages  w'ill  view  it — not  throug'h  the  mis's 
of  a  famine,  but  by  the  living  lights  of  the  firmament.  You  may 
possibly  be  induced  to  reject  it  in  the  form  I  propo.se,  and  accept  it 
in  the  other.  If  so,  you  will  accept  the  question,  and  employ  it  as 
:-.  weapon  against  England,  in  a  shape  and  under  conditions  which 
deprive  it  of  half  its  strength.  You  \\  ill  take  and  work  it  fettered 
and  hand-cuffed — not  otherwise. 

I  trouble  myself  as  little  as  any  one  does  about  the  "  conquest  " 
as  taken  abstractedly — as  an  affair  that  took  place  long  ages  ago. 
But  that  "c»nquest"  is  still  in  existence,  with  all  its  rights,  claims, 
laws,  relations,  and  results.  The  landlord  holds  his  lands  by  right 
and  title  of  conquest,  and  uses  his  powers  as  only  a  conqueror  may. 
The  tenant  holds  under  the  law  of  conquest — vce  viciis. 

What  forms  the  right  of  property  in  land?  I  have  never  read  :n 
the  direction  of  that  question.  I  have  all  my  life  been  destitute  of 
hooks.  But  from  the  first  chapter  of  Blackstone's  second  book, 
the  only  page  i  ever  read  on  the  subject,  I  know  that  juri.sts  are 
iinanimouslv  agreed  in  considering   "  first  occupancy"    to  be   the 


15 

only    true    orii;;inaI    foundation    on     tl>e    right    of    property    and 
possession  of  land. 

Now  I  am  prepared  to  prove  that  "  occupancy  "  wants  every 
character  and  quality  that  could  give  it  moral  efiicacy  as  a  founda- 
tion of  right.  I  am  prepared  to  prove  this,  when  "  occupancy  " 
has  first  been  defined.  If  no  definition  can  be  given,  I  am  relieved 
from  the  necessity  of  showing  any  claim  founded  on  occupancy  to 
be  weak  and  worthless. 

To  any  plain  understanding  the  right  of  private  property  is  very 
simple.  It  is  the  right  of  man  to  possess,  enjoy,  and  transfer,  the 
substance  and  use  of  whatever  he  Jias  himself  created.  This 
title  is  good  against  the  world  ;  and  it  is  the  sole  and  only  title 
by  which  a  valid  right  of  absolute  private  property  can  possibly 
vest. 

But  no  man  can  plead  any  such  title  to  a  right  of  property  in  the 
substance  of  the  soil. 

The  earth,  together  with  all  it  spontaneously  produces,  is  the 
free  and  common  property  of  all  mankind,  of  natural  right,  and  by 
the  grant  of  God; — and  ail  men  being  equal,  no  man,  therefore, 
has  a  right  to  appropriate  exclusively  to  himself  any  part  or 
portion  thereof,  except  with  and  by  the  common  consent  and 
agreement  of  all  other  men. 

The  sole  original  right  of  property  in  land  which  I  acknowledge 
to  be  morally  valid,  is  this  right  of  common  consent  and  agreement. 
Every  other  I  hold  to  be  fabricated  and  fictitious,  null,  void,  and  of 
no  effect. 

In  the  original  and  natural  state  of  mankind,  existing  in 
u' dependent  families,  each  man  must,  in  res3:>ect  of  actual  fact, 
either  take  and  hold  (assujME  occipaxcv  as  well  as  maintain 
possession  of)  his  land  by  right  and  virtue  of  such  consent  and 
agreement  as  aforesaid,  with  all  those  who  might  be  in  a  position 
to  dispute  and  oppose  his  doing  so  ;  or  he  must  take  and  maintain 
possession  by  force.  The  fictitious  right  of  occupancy — invented 
by  jurists  to  cover  and  account  for  a  state  of  settlement  otherwise 
unaccountable  and  indefensible  on  moral  principle — this  right 
would  l>e  utterly  worthless,  and  "could  seldom  accrue  ;  for  except 
in  such  a  case  as  that  of  a  single  individual  thrown  on  a  desert 
island,  the  ijuestion  of  right  would  g"enerally  arise,  and  require  to 
be  settled  before  any  colourable  "  title  by  occupancy  "  could  be 
established,  or  even  actual  occupation  be  effected.  And  then — 
\vhat  constitutes  occupancy?  What  length  of  possession  gives 
"  title  by  occupancy  "? 

When  independent  families  have  united  into  separate  tribes, 
and  tribes  SAvelled  into  nations,  the  same  law  obtains; — each  tribe 
or  nation  has  but  either  one  or  another  of  two  available  rights  to 
stand  upon — the)'  must  take  and  maintain  territorial  possession 
by  consent  and  agreement  with  all  other  tribes  and  nations  :  or 
they  must  take  and  hold  by  the  tenure  of  chivalry  in  th.e  right  of 
their  might. 

Putting  together  and  proceeding  on  the  principles  now  stated, 
it  v^ill  appear  that,  if  those  principles  be  sound,  no  man  can  legiti- 


16 

mate!}-  cUiim  possession  or  occupation  of  any  portion  of  land  or 
any  right  of  property  tlierein,  except  by  sjrant  from  the  people, 
at  the  will  of  the  people,  as  tenant  to  the  people,  and  on  conditions 
made  or  .sanctioned  b  the  people  ; — and  that  every  r-ght,  except 
the  rig-ht  so  created  and  \estinij  by  grant  from  the  people,  is 
nothing-  more  or  beiter  than  the  righl  of  the  robber  who  hold'^ 
forcible  possession  of  what  does  not  lawfully  belong  to  him. 

The  present  proprietors  of  Ireland  do  not  hold  or  claim  by  grant 
Irom  the  people,  nor  even — except  in  Ulster — by  any  species  of 
imperfect  agreement  or  assent  of  the  people.  They  got  and  keep 
their  lands  in  the  robber's  right — the  right  of  conquest — in  despite, 
defiance,  and  contempt  of  the  people.  Eight  thousand  men  are 
owners  of  this  entire  island, — claiming  the  right  of  enslaving, 
starving,  and  exterminating  eight  millions.  A\"e  talk  of  asserting" 
free-government,  and  of  ridding  ourselves  of  foreign  domination — 
while,  lo  !  eight  thousand  men  are  lords  of  our  lives — of  us  and 
ours,  blood  and  breath,  happiness  or  misery,  body  and  soul.  Such 
is  the  state  of  things  in  every  countr_\-  where  the  settlement  of  the 
lands  has  been  eflected  bv  conquest.  In  Ulster  the  case  is  isome- 
Avhar  different,  mncli  to  the  advantage  of  the  people,  but  not  as 
much  as  it  ought  to  have  been.  Ulster  was  not  merely  conquered 
but  colonized — the  native  race  being  expelled,  as  in  the  United 
States  of  America  : — and  the  settlement  that  prevails  was  made 
by  a  sort  of  consent  and  agreement  among  the  conquering  race. 

No  length  of  time  or  possession  can  sanction  claims  acquired  by 
robbery,  or  convert  them  into  valid  rig-hts.  The  people  are  still 
rig-htful  owners,  Miough'not  in  possession.  ''Nullum  tempus 
occurit  Deo. — nullum  tempus   occurit   populo." 

In  many  countries  besides  this,  the  lands  were  acquired,  and 
long-  held,  by  right  of  force  or  conquest.  But  in  most  of  them  the 
settlement  and  laws  of  conquest  have  been  abrogated,  amended,  or 
modified,  to  a  greater  or  lesser  exteni.  In  some,  an  outrise  of  the 
people  has  trampled  them  down, — in  some,  the  natural  laws  have 
triumphed  over  them, — in  some,  a  despotic  monarch  or  minister  has 
abolisiied  or  altered  them.  In  Ireland  alone  they  remain  unchanged, 
unmitigated,  unmollified,  in  all  their  original  ferocity  and  cruelty, 
and  the  people  of  Ireland  must  now  abolish  them,  or  be  themselves 
abo'ished,  and   this   is   noiK.'  the   more  urQ'eiif  business.. 


^X^XKeXo 


^iAN  '^o** 


BOSTON  COLLEGE 


3  9031  01605022  1 


DATE  DUE 

-^^x — H— - 

UOi^ 

I  4  dUO^ 

JL 

L  1  (;  9nr 

3 

SAVUORO 

1 

1 

rniNTEO  IN  U.S.A. 

BOSTON  C01U6E  LJBRWn 
CHISrHWT  HHU  «A  0216? 


